The Victoria Park

Sunday 7 September 2014

Hartlepool United 2-0 Shrewsbury Town

Aerial shot of Victoria Park (Bing Maps)

Programme - £3.00

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 6/10

Ease of getting there : 8/10

Atmosphere : 7/10

Programme : 7/10

View of Action : 6/10

Quality of the game : 8/10

The "football" feeling : 6/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 1/10

Legroom : 10/10

Surrounding area : 8/10

Overall : 67/100

HMS Trincomalee in Hartlepool Marina

Hartlepool Marina

P.S.S Wingfield Castle in Hartlepool Marina

Cyril Knowles Stand

Rink End

Niramax Stand

The Town End

Cyril Knowles Stand

Rink End

Niramax Stand

Remaining old unused terracing

Floodlight Pylon at Victoria Park

Cyril Knowles Stand

The Town End

Niramax Stand

Cyril Knowles Stand

The Town End

Niramax Stand

Cyril Knowles Stand

The Town End

Niramax Stand

Hartlepool United 2-0 Shrewsbury Town

Following a great night out at the Ricoh Arena, our attention turns to League 2 for our Saturday match, Hartlepool United verses Shrewsbury Town.

We left the East Midlands going up the M1 at 8am. Our first stop on our way up to the North East was Frickley Athletic who play at Westfield Lane.

Making our way out of West Yorkshire and into the North East, we travelled a further hour and a half to West Auckland where we struggled to get photos of the ground, The Seagrave Stadium.

Only a couple of minutes up the road from West Auckland is the home of Bishop Auckland, Heritage Park.

Next was the visit to the Brewery Fields, the home of Spennymoor Town.

Following our visit to Spennymoor Town, we made our way towards the east coast.

We reached Hartlepool at 12:30pm and parked on Hart Lane. We then made our way towards the marina where we had lunch at Jackson's Wharf pub.

We visited the marina on our last visit to Hartlepool United on our way home from Newcastle United back in 2009. Like last time, we went on the P.S.S Wingfield Castle where we explored the vessel and looked around the marina which is still to be completed.

P.S.S Wingfield Castle previously ferried passengers across the River Humber before the spanning Humber Bridge was built.

At 2pm, we made our way back up to the ground where we took some photos and then went in.

On this occasion we were sat amongst the away supporters. We found that it's cheaper to buy tickets in advance so we therefore set about looking to buy tickets online.

Considering it's the 21st century, we found it strange that Hartlepool United don't seem to have an online ticketing shop therefore we chose the alternative to buy tickets from Shrewsbury Town.

‘Victoria Park has a capacity of 7,856. The four sides of the ground are known as the Town End Terrace, the Niramax Stand, the Cyril Knowles Stand and the Rink End.

The Town End Terrace is a standing area behind the south goal, it is usually the most vocal area of the ground. The Niramax Stand (formerly the Millhouse Stand) is an all seating stand with a terraced paddock and it is located at the west side of the ground. The Cyril Knowles Stand is a modern all seater stand that is located on the east of the ground. A number of portable cabins were put on the site of the Clarence Road stand containing dressing rooms, offices and a small number of seats until the Cyril Knowles Stand was built in 1995. The Rink End is also an all-seater stand containing 1,033 seats, however this is the only stand containing some areas with an obscured view of the pitch, due to a number of supporting pillars. The Rink End is located at the north end of the ground and houses only away fans.

In 1998 West Hartlepool R.F.C. were allowed to once again share the ground, signing an agreement that was to run until 2001, West brought a number of executive boxes with them from their previous ground - Brierton Lane. These boxes were added to the rear of the Cyril Knowles stand and remain there until today. However, West didn't stay as long, and moved out in 1999. In 1996 the ground was renamed Victoria Park to reflect the large number of improvements that had been made to the infrastructure and facilities. Among the improvements were two new stands (the Cyril Knowles Stand and the Town End), new dressing rooms and offices in the old Clock Garages building to the northeast of the ground and major work on the condition of the pitch.’ (Source - Wikipedia)

The form book was turned upside down at a very pleasant Victoria Park as the Shrews went down to their first league defeat of the season while for Hartlepool United a first home win.
It had been a difficult week for Pool’s boss Colin Cooper, the transfer window had seen the late deadline day sale of star striker Luke James to League 1 Peterborough United and no time to bring in a replacement.
However the week ended in a positive, a switch in tactics to 4-4-2, a few personnel changes and that all important deserved home win.
Pool could have taken the lead in the first 3mins but Franks fired wide when well placed. However the wait was not long in coming, a good low centre from the left by Compton was precisely finished by on loan Middlesbrough striker Charlie Wykes.
Ryan Brobbel should have increased the lead but miskicked completely from a yard.
Shrewsbury had started poorly but gradually started to get in to the game, their best player being youngest Ryan Woods, who clearly had a bit of vision in midfield. He centred from the right but Scott Vernon headed wide when well placed, strike partner James Collins also heading over as a couple of chances went begging.
With the one goal deficit the game was very open which made for a good spectacular from a neutral point of view.
Shrewsbury were probing for an equaliser but found the home sides two banks of 4 across the field almost impossible to break down.
Scott Flinders was well protected and only had to make one real save, a fierce riding shot from Collins.
Pools were lively on the break and the visitors were caught out in the 75th minute when Pool scored their second goal. Again Jack Compton, the architect, delivered an excellent ball in from the left and Brad Walker prodding the ball home from close range.
We both thought that Hartlepool could have had two penalties in the second half, twice Ryan Brobbel caught out the Shrews defence, on the first occasion he appeared to be tripped in the box, the second a clear shirt pull. Both incidents did not appear to interest the referee.
A well deserved win for Hartlepool United, a very good team performance and a pleasant afternoon on the north east coast.

After the match, we ran back up towards the car before going through Hartlepool town centre and then onto the A19, A1 and M1 southbound. With it being international weekend, both BBC Tees and 5live didn’t cover any of the League 1 or 2 fixtures which we found disappointing on our long journey home. What we found even more annoying was the fact the BBC didn’t even show the weekly Football League highlights show on the usual Saturday night schedule! SHAME ON THE BBC

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THERE ARE LEAGUES BELOW THE PREMIER LEAGUE!

Rant over and we were back in the Midlands for 8pm.